1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to material handling apparatus, and more particularly to tilting vehicle handlers with an adjustable and movable jaw for securing a load, such as a large and heavy log, to an adjustable platform, so that the load may be easily moved by a single person between ground elevation and the elevation of a trailer or log splitter.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many persons, a controlled and recreational fire greatly enhances a social gathering, whether the gathering is very small and private or for a large group on a special occasion. The ambiance created by the warm and gentle glow of the fire combines with the mesmerizing flickering and lapping of the flames to enhance nearly all types and sizes of social gatherings. Many of these gatherings occur in the latter part of the evening or into the night, when ambient temperature will have dropped significantly from the daytime. Since each person may either move closer to or farther from the fire, each individual can effectively customize to their preferred ambient temperature as well. The warm radiance of the fire in the evening or night will then also help to keep everyone comfortably warm and relaxed.
To other persons, a fire is far more practical, and simply represents the conversion of a readily available fuel source, the wood, to heat that may be put directly to use, or that may be converted into yet other types of energy. In some cases, the wood may be burned in a fireplace that combines aesthetic benefits with utilitarian heat extraction, but the wood may alternatively simply be placed in a closed but ventilated fire chamber, and the heat may then be used for space heating, water heating, steam generation, or others of the many known utilitarian applications for the thermal energy that is generated during combustion.
Those familiar with wood fireplaces, stoves, bonfires, campfires, and the many other types of related wood combustion applications may already know that there are some important variables that must be controlled properly, depending upon the intended application and timing. For example, very small diameter twigs and sticks, such as would be smaller than a typical person's fingers in diameter, are quite light in weight. All persons, including young children and more frail individuals, can easily gather and carry this type of firewood. Twigs and small sticks also have a very large surface area to volume ratio, and when collected together, much air is entrapped between the various irregularly shaped twigs. This means that the twigs are relatively easy to ignite, and they tend to burn very bright and hot due to the readily available entrapped oxygen and large surface area. Unfortunately, the twigs and sticks will also only last for a few minutes before being entirely consumed in the flames. Consequently, this type of firewood must be gathered almost continuously to keep up with the rate of combustion. As a result, very small diameter wood is most commonly collected and used specifically for starting fires.
At the other extreme, very large diameter wood, such as the trunk from an old tree, is very hard to collect and move, and is quite difficult to ignite. However, owing to the much smaller surface area to volume ratio and almost no entrapped oxygen, such large diameter wood may burn for many hours or days. Large diameter logs may therefore be used to produce thermal energy through that same period of hours or days of combustion, without the need for any human intervention or tending. This has led to the reservation of a large diameter log or trunk which may be referred to as the night log for overnight use or other relatively unattended periods, since a large diameter log can be expected to burn through the duration of the night.
Medium diameter logs will burn for time measured as some significant fraction of an hour up to several hours, and so produce a generally preferred compromise between the twigs and large tree trunks. The aesthetic appearance of such fires is very good, and the few hours of combustion often corresponds reasonably closely with the duration of most social gatherings. Furthermore, these medium diameter logs can be lifted and moved about by most healthy individuals in the prime years of their lives. In most controlled combustion wood stoves, several of these medium diameter logs may be placed in the fire chamber, the air inlet restricted, and the wood allowed to burn again with little or no tending for hours. Consequently, the medium diameter logs are most preferred for most fire applications other than starting or long duration.
As those familiar with fireplaces and the other various wood combustion applications also already know, the wood does not itself grow and sever when at the right diameter and length, nor does it happen to fall right next to the fireplace. Consequently, wood must be gathered or harvested, prepared by drying, splitting or cutting to size, sometimes stored, and ultimately delivered to the location where the fire will be. Many land owners will maintain their wooded land by regularly harvesting downed trees and thinning overcrowded areas. In such cases, the wood is commonly cut to desired length, and then often moved and loaded manually onto a waiting truck or trailer. From the forest, the length-cut wood is then typically transported to a wood pile or other storage area, unloaded from the transport vehicle, and then dry stacked until required for a fire. Some persons will split the wood immediately, particularly where due to circumstances the wood is already dry such as a dead tree that has had plenty of drying time, but others will first stack and dry the wood, and then split it. This means that in many instances the length-cut wood will be raised from the ground to an elevated trailer or truck, transported, removed from the trailer or truck and placed onto either the stack or a splitter followed by stacking. Later, the wood will again be moved, either from the stack to a splitter and then to the fireplace, or directly from the stack to the fireplace. This means that there will be significant handling, including raising and lowering each of the large logs several times prior to gaining the benefits of the fire.
In some cases, a large tract of wooded area will be cleared, and during such a process the quantity of wood is sufficiently great to justify the use of large machinery for harvesting, cutting to length, and splitting. Nevertheless, there will still be significant manual lifting and lowering required, even in the best of circumstances.
Raising and lowering heavy and awkward objects is the cause of an enormous number of back injuries each year. Unfortunately, even with the best of modern forest harvesting equipment, there is still much heavy lifting of large and awkward logs. As may be appreciated, there is even more heavy lifting required without the modern forest harvesting equipment. Either way, there is a substantial need in the industry for better apparatus to assist in the gathering, storing, and final distribution of firewood to ease the effort required to gain the benefits that a fire has to offer, and to reduce accidental injuries associated therewith.
One way that various artisans have attempted to ease the manual handling of logs is through the use of apparatus or machinery designed to grab the logs for transport on a cart. Several of these, the contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference, are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,935 by Miller, entitled “Lifting and transporting apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,904 by Maxwell, entitled “Firewood handler”; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,151 by Sampson, entitled “Carts for moving logs into fireplaces”. Each of these patents provide leveraged lifting of logs and facilitate transport. However, none may be adjusted to accommodate widely varying log dimensions, or to adjust to match the elevations of surrounding surfaces that the log might desirably be transferred to, such as a log splitter or trailer.
Other carts designed to facilitate the support and transfer of logs are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,393 by Gordon et al, entitled “Hand cart”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,876 by Arpin, entitled “Fireplace log and coal feeder”; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,769 by Thorndike, entitled “Log carrier”, the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference, though these prior art log carts lack many desirable features and benefits.
Additional hand trucks having adjustable hooks are incorporated herein by reference for their teachings and contents, including U.S. Pat. No. 757,793 by Vickers, entitled “Adjustable hook for hand trucks”; U.S. Pat. No. 851,164 by Davenport, entitled “Hand truck”; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,470,526 by Cade, entitled “Truck”. While these adjustable hooks represent substantial advancement over fixed hooks, the Vickers hook is relatively difficult to use and may be prone to part slippage and accidental release. The Davenport hook has an exposed release that, if accidentally pressed during operation of the present log hauling hand truck, would be very detrimental and potentially seriously harmful. Finally, the Cade apparatus, while simple and effective, is free to separate from the hand truck, making it somewhat more awkward to adjust and easier to misplace than desired herein.
The teachings and contents of a number of additional hand trucks not specifically designed for handling logs are incorporated herein by reference, including U.S. Pat. No. 31,741 by Humes, entitled “Hand truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 70,303 by Whipple, entitled “Hand truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 167,221 by Carter, entitled “Trucks for moving rails, etc.”; U.S. Pat. No. 345,467 by Williams, entitled “Barrel truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,436,173 by Hoxie, entitled “Dumping truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,437,971 by Gakle, entitled “Truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,446,799 by Hunziker, entitled “Truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,460,266 by Monroe, entitled “Hand truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,510,456 by Cadwalader, entitled “Truck”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,525,451 by Kurtz, entitled “Method and apparatus for transferring cylindrical glass sections”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,048 by Schum, entitled “Truck for handling cylinders of compressed gas or the like”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,775,465 by Swingler, entitled “Portable cart”; U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,762 by Alexander, entitled “Combination hand and lift cart”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,800 by Lomas, entitled “Trailer”; U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,113 by Ewert, entitled “Beehive superstructure transport apparatus”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,310 by Lujan et al, entitled “Wheeled multipurpose keg handler”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,596 by Spencer et al, entitled “Hay bale cart”; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,207 by Henry, entitled “Collapsible cart”.
A number of additional patents that are exemplary of prior art limitations with elevating heavy loads onto trailers or other elevated platforms are also incorporated herein by reference in entirety, including U.S. Pat. No. 493,598 by Psota, entitled “Wagon loading device”; U.S. Pat. No. 661,904 by Browne, entitled “Truck loading machine”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,341,904 by Hubbard, entitled “Loading skid”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,423,887 by Stewart, entitled “Truck loading and unloading mechanism”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,467,504 by Sabarros, entitled “Apparatus for the mechanical handling of goods”; U.S. Pat. No. 1,770,640 by Beasley, entitled “Loading apparatus”; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,364 by Levy, entitled “Self-loading vehicle”. Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is additionally incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.